Tomorrow's Been Destroyed
by flubber
Summary: Events in the episode 'First strike' as seen from the point of view of a gate tech. Written as a response to 'The First Sentences Challange prompt 63: Are we to die in this place?


Tomorrow's Been Destroyed.

'Blind me with distraction, build a frontier cross the void,

for tomorrow's been destroyed in a breath.'

Taken from 'Roses' by Cherry Ghost.

Rating : T

Spoilers – Season 3 finale – First Strike.

This is being written in response to The First Sentence Challenge – Sentence 63: Are we to die in this place?

The story is inspired by the episode 'First Strike' and is taken from the point of view of a gate tech. An original character by the name of Louis Cameron.

Any dialogue from the episode that I may use has been taken from a transcript from the Abydos Gate website and has been done by AthenaKTT.

I do not own any rights to any of the characters in this story except my own.

&

"Are we going to die in this place?"

The thought echoed through Louis's mind as he looked at the devastation that was the gate room.

Earlier….

They were being attacked by the replicators. Maybe if they hadn't bombed them. Maybe if they had left them alone? But then if the rumours were correct they had built ships. They couldn't have left them that's for sure. It was one of those no-win situations that he had been warned about.

They had already submerged the city and they were still getting attacked. Life wasn't fair. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. This was supposed to have been a great adventure. His adventure!

Louis remembered the day that he was told he was going to the Pegasus galaxy. It had been one of the best of his life. He was going to be a gate tech, in a gateroom in another galaxy. He couldn't believe it!

Ever since he was a child he had believed that there was life on other planets. So finding out that there was life in another galaxy, well this was the stuff that his dreams were made of.

When Louis walked in to the gateroom for the first time, it took his breath away. Atlantis was a city of legend and now he was part of it!

A smile crept over his face as Louis had remembered the way that he felt. The phrase, 'like a child let loose in a toy shop' came to mind.

But as he remembered what was happening, the smile was replaced by a look of anger and fear. After all they had gone through, the Wraith, Genii. For it to end like this, this was wrong.

WEIR; … May I have your attention? As you all know, we have found ourselves in a spot of trouble. The reality is no matter where we try to hide on this planet, the Replicator satellite will be able to track us. Therefore, Doctor McKay and Colonel Sheppard, have come up with a rather ingenious way for us escape the satellite's range all together. In the next few hours, we will fire city's stardrive and head into space. Atlantis is leaving this planet.

Louis stood by his console and looked in disbelief. They were going to be leaving the planet. They were going to fly the city out of here. Before he had come to the city, he had heard that it could fly but he didn't believe it! He had thought that it was just Atlantis's answer to an urban legend. Now he was about to be proved wrong.

Suddenly everything was a flurry of action. A new site had been found and all non-essential personnel had been moved to the Apollo. All non–essential systems were shut down.

Doctor Mckay suddenly appeared in the gateroom.

McKAY: Zelenka, I need a go or no go?

ZELENKA[on radio We're a go. All nonessential systems are shutdown. We're in the green.

McKAY: Are you ready, Sheppard?

From the chair room the reply came loud and clear.

SHEPPARD: I'm as ready as I'll ever be.

Doctor Mckay then turned his attention to the asteroid. It was strange that the success of this endeavor rested on Major Lorne, his team of pilots and a large lump of rock in space.

LORNE: Package is away and on course. We're heading back to the _Apollo_. Good luck.

This was it, their last chance of getting out of this mess. Louis turned to look at Doctor Mckay as he worked.

McKAY: Okay, calculating travel time and current speed. That's it we're good. Here goes nothing.

Atlantis started to move. There was an air of expectancy in the gateroom. They were going to fly. They were going to escape.

"This is one hell of a Hail Mary!" he thought to himself.

But something wasn't right. There was an angry exchange between Doctor Mckay and Colonel Sheppard. From what Louis could pick up, there wasn't enough power to get the city in to the sky.

There had to be something that they could do. They were so close.

McKAY: I have no more power to give you!

WEIR: Shut it off!

McKAY: What?!

WEIR: Lower the shield.

McKAY: We're about to go into space. If you're planning on breathing, we're going to need the shield.

SHEPPARD: Turn it back on at 18,000 feet.

SHEPPARD[on radio ...We just need a boost to get started. No?

McKAY: That might work.

That was it. They were on the way. They were finally flying.

Louis couldn't help but smile as he thought about what was happening. It was like being on the wildest ride in the fun park for the first time. It was incredible.

He hoped that one day, when this was all declassified, he would be able to tell his family all about his adventures in space.

"Maybe I will have a wife and kids of my own." He mused as he looked around the gateroom.

His reverie was short lived however as all hell broke loose.

Somehow the beam had managed to hit the tower. He watched in horror, as there were small explosions as screens were broken and pieces of equipment lay shattered on the ground.

He could hear the moans from the people lying around the room. Louis was in such a state of shock that he didn't even notice when Doctor Mckay called for medical help.

He was unsure of what was happening and kept looking for Doctor Weir.

"Why isn't she here? She should take charge? Maybe she's lying injured or even worse maybe she's …"

It was with that thought in mind that Louis found himself leaning over and retching. This was more that he could take.

Eventually he managed to stand up straight. As he did there was a jolt as the city dropped out of hyperspace.

Teyla, Dr Mckay and Colonel Sheppard were standing having a conversation. From the look on McKay's face things were not going well.

TEYLA: Where are we?

McKAY: The middle of nowhere. There's no planets no moon no Stargate.

SHEPPARD: How much power do we have?

McKAY: This can't be right.

SHEPPARD: How much?!

McKAY: At current consumption we've got twenty-four hours of power left. After that there's no shield. No shield, no atmosphere. No atmosphere, no….

Had Louis heard right? Twenty-four hours.

Now.

Louis took one last look at the gateroom and slowly made his way to the balcony. He stood and looked out to see what he could see. Instead of see a new horizon and blue sky all he could see was the blackness of space littered with stars.

"Twenty-four hours." That's what Mckay had said.

Louis stood there and looked in to the vast expanse of space. He had always imagined that he would die of old age in a room of an old folks home with his family around him. Instead he was going to die in the middle of nowhere with no one knowing where he was.

What would his parents be told? Would they ever know the truth of what he had done and where he had been?

Closing his eyes, he pictured his family and felt a tear roll down his face.

Then he found himself wondering what their death would be like. What would happen when the power started to run out? Would it be a quick death or would it be slow and painful? And when the shield went?

He wouldn't let himself think like that. He couldn't bear it. There had to be a way for them to make it. It just couldn't end like this.

It just couldn't.


End file.
